Jay K. Kolls, M.D.

Director, Richard King Mellon Institute for Pediatric Research
Professor of Pediatrics and Immunology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Vice Chair for Translational Research
Department of Pediatrics
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC

 

Phone: (412) 692-8429
Fax: (412) 692-7636

Email: jay.kolls@chp.edu

Degrees

BS, Physics, 1981
Ursinus College
Collegeville, Pennsylvania

M.D., 1985
University of Maryland School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland

Research Interests

The major goal of my research is to investigate mechanisms of lung host defenses in normal and immunocompromised hosts.  Presently, we are investigating how IL-23 and IL-17 regulate neutrophil recruitment in response to infectious stimuli in the lung.  To this end we study cellular sources of IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 in the lung as well as their signaling in response to pulmonary infection.  We also have long standing interest to determine if Th17 cells and their cytokine products contribute to airway destruction in cystic fibrosis.  We also have a long-standing interest in understanding cytokine biology in the lung through over-expression or dominant negative inhibitor strategies using somatic gene transfer.  In these studies we have identified that sub-populations of CD8+ T-cells polarized in vivo via cytokine gene transfer have effector activity against P. carinii.   We are presently using gene expression profiling and proteomics to define this effector activity.  We also have a program in developing CD4-independent vaccination against AIDS-related opportunistic infections. 

 

Current Research interest Keywords:

gene therapy, lung immunology, lung host defenses, tumor necrosis factor, pneumonia, pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, ethanol, gene expression, polymerase chain reaction, molecular biology

 

 

Committees & Administrative Responsibilities

Editorial Board:    
Advisory Editor, Journal of Experimental Medicine
Respiratory Research
Section Editor, Journal of Immunology
Consulting Editor, Journal of Clinical Investigation

 

Selected Publications

Chan YR, Liu J, Pociask D, Zheng M, Mietzner TA, Berger T, Mak T, Clifton M, Strong RK, Ray P, Kolls JK. Lipocalin 2 is required for pulmonary host defense against Klebsiella infection. J. Immuol. 2009 Apr 15;182(8):4947-56.

Aujla S, Chan YC, Zheng M, Fei M, Askew DJ, Pociask DA , Reinhart TA, McAllister F, Edeal J, Gaus K, Husain S, Kreindler JL, Dubin PJ, Pilewski JM, Myerburg MM, Mason CA, Iwakura Y, and Kolls JK.  IL-22 mediates mucosal host defense against gram negative bacterial pneumonia. Nat Med. 2008 Mar;14(3):275-81.

Kreindler JL, Steele C, Nguyen N, Chan YR, Pilewsk JM, Alcorn JF, Aujla AJ, Finelle P, Blancahrd M, Ziegler SF, Logar A, Hartigan E,  Kurs-Lasky M,  Rockette H, Ray A, and Kolls JK.  Vitamin D3 attenuates Th2 responses to Aspergillus fumigatus mounted by CD4+ T cells from cystic fibrosis patients with allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.  J Clin Invest. 2010 Sep 1;120(9):3242-54.

Mitsdoerffer M, Lee Y, Jäger A, Kim HJ, Korn T, Kolls JK, Cantor H, Bettelli E, Kuchroo VK. Proinflammatory T helper type 17 cells are effective B-cell helpers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Aug 10;107(32):14292-7.

Liu B, Tan W, Barsoum A, Gu X, Chen K, Huang W, Ramsay A, Kolls JK, Schwarzenberger P IL-17 is a potent synergistic factor with GM-CSF in mice in stimulating myelopoiesis, dendritic cell expansion, proliferation, and functional enhancement. Exp Hematol. 2010 Oct;38(10):877-884.e1.

Hardison SE, Wozniak KL, Kolls JK, Wormley FL Jr. IL-17 is not Required for Classical Macrophage Activation in a Pulmonary Mouse Model of Cryptococcus neoformans Infection. Infect Immun. 2010 Oct 4.

Cai S, Batra S, Lira SA, Kolls JK, Jeyaseelan S. CXCL1 Regulates Pulmonary Host Defense to Klebsiella Infection via CXCL2, CXCL5, NF-{kappa}B, and MAPKs. J Immunol. 2010 Oct 11.

Rapaka RR, Ricks DM, Alcorn JA, Chen K, Khader SA, Zheng M, Plevy S, Bengtén E., and Kolls JK. Conserved natural IgM antibodies mediate innate and adaptive immunity against the opportunistic fungus Pneumocystis.  JEM (in press).

Additional Info